Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET
Recent damage to boats in Pond Inlet has reignited the call for a badly needed breakwater in the community.

Manasie Amagoalik's boat, or what is left of it, pokes out of the water following a windy night in Pond Inlet on Aug. 15. Residents are impatiently awaiting a breakwater to protect their vessels. - photo courtesy of Patrick Idlout

High wind from Aug. 14 to 15 caused a few boats to sink or drift away while residents risked their lives to salvage another.

James Simonee, vice-chair of the Pond Inlet Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO), said the need for a breakwater has never been more dire.

"It's very important because there are a lot of people who have boats," he said. "Many of those people don't have trailers which means they have to leave their boats in the water. We need something that can protect boats from waves."

Strong wind cause boats to smash heavily onto the rocky shore on an annual basis. Two years ago, Simonee's boat was anchored in front of his parent's home when something terrible happened.

"Sometime in the early morning my boat flipped," he said. "The boat sank but we were able to save the motor. There was a study done years ago (about the possibility of building a breakwater in Pond Inlet) but nothing came of it and people have grown very impatient."

Simonee was referring to the Nunavut Small Craft Harbours Report, a study prepared by a working committee from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in 2004 and revised in 2006.

In it, the report supports Nunavut's request for harbour infrastructure in seven communities, namely Pangnirtung, Clyde River, Qikiqtarjuaq, Pond Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet, Repulse Bay and Kugaaruk.

It proposed to built one harbour per year for seven years, or build all seven over four years.

"The greatest economic benefit will accrue in the four Baffin Island communities primarily due to the well-established, but evolving turbot and shrimp fisheries," it states.

According to statistics in the report, approximately 43 jobs would be created in Pond Inlet alone from building the breakwater, while an additional 39 would be created post-construction. The cost was estimated at $8,760,000 and funding falls under the federal government's jurisdiction.

Nearly eight years later, the community remains without a breakwater and residents are nearing the end of their collective rope.

Pond Inlet MLA Joe Enook, whose uncle died several years ago while trying to save his boat, said this is an issue that goes far beyond the Government of Nunavut.

"For a long time I've pushed for a protection facility of some kind," Enook said.

"Pond Inlet has nothing in the form of a dock and many of us have to keep our boats in Salmon River, which is two miles away. I took my boat out there to protect it because it's the only solution we have at the moment."

So far, only Pangnirtung has received funding to build a harbour, slated to be completed in September. The project cost was estimated at $42 million but Enook said Pond Inlet doesn't need anything that substantial.

He's frustrated with the federal government and what he describes as their "attraction to the dollar figure.

"If they decide to spend on a breakwater, it has to have a commercial value," Enook said.

"As long as that policy is there, we won't see anything built in Pond Inlet. This isn't about saving boats, it's about saving lives. What will it take? Another life lost?"

Art Stewart, the acting director of policy and planning with the transportation branch of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation, said the territorial government has been using the report in continuous talks with the federal government to substantiate their needs for community harbours.

"Breakwaters are a federal jurisdiction and therefore all we can do is simply ask for money and try to state our case," Stewart said. "Subsequent to the report, other studies have been created by private consultants, just to make the idea of putting a port in any of the other six communities easier. So far, we haven't been able to convince them to provide the funding."

Pond Inlet residents will soon have access to a boat launch but it doesn't replace the protection offered by a breakwater. It will alleviate some of their issues, Stewart said.

"It will give folks a chance to get their boats to safety in times of extreme climates," he said.

"The contractor will have it built between eight to 10 days once the supplies are in the community. This doesn't mean we're not pursuing a harbour for Pond Inlet."

Up until March 31, the federal government had been providing bulk funding - $500,000 - for all 25 Nunavut communities to do maintenance on their sea lift areas.

Unfortunately, that funding has stopped and the government of Nunavut was forced to pick up the tab this year.

"We're going to keep fighting to get that funding back," Stewart said. "It's not much but it certainly helped."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.